Manassas/Bull Run

We got to Manassas at about 10:30, and took the 1-mile walking tour of the first battle there--there were two, about two years apart. In the north, they are called First and Second Bull Run. The south calls them First and Second Manassas.

The first was the first big land battle after the south's attack on Fort Sumter, and lots of DC folks put on their Sunday best, packed picnics, and drove out in carriages to see the action.

That was a mistake. The Union troops were routed in a relatively short battle, and ended up scurrying back to Washington as fast as they could, as did the spectators.

The location was near a strategically important rail junction, which is why the battles were fought here.

This was the battle in which Confederate General Thomas Jackson was to earn the nickname he'd carry the rest of his life, and posthumously, when another southern officer rallied his own troops by shouting "See there boys? There stands Jackson like a stone wall!"

That's the statue Lori's standing by, in the spot Jackson was at the time.

We decided to skip the longer, driving tour of the second battlefields, due to time constraints. Instead, we found a picnic table and had lunch.

Then we took to Virginia's back roads up toward Harper's Ferry.